By DAVID TELLER
Staff Reporter
Wading through the legal system can be a very overwhelming experience. Cheney Municipal Court will soon have an alternative enabling people to resolve their legal issues online.
Cheney court administrator Terri Cooper said the new system is modeled after several other cities in the state in an effort to expedite the legal process and reduce paper use.
The Internet-based system which has e-ticketing, e-parking, e-mitigation and contested hearings is scheduled to be put into use by 2009. When the Cheney Police Department installed Mobile Data Browsers (MDB) last September, the software to download the ticket information was already installed in those computers and was put to use with no cost.
“They have that all ready to go,” Cooper said.
She added that e-ticking will save time because the MDB will generate citations that are directly download to the court, so the extra handling of the paperwork won't be needed. Cooper said the Internet option is a service that will be available on the city's website after the first of the year.
E-contested hearings and mitigations give the opportunity to argue an infraction electronically and also make a payment with a debit or credit card. Cooper said the option is also coming shortly after the first of the year.
E-parking is a pilot parking module that Cooper said the court is working with the state computer system to implement in Cheney also. She said the officer issuing a citation records the license plate number into a handheld device that produces a receipt, which is place on the windshield. The information supplied by the officer is downloaded into the state's system.
Getting e-parking is where cost comes into play. Cooper said the amount needed to get e-parking up and running is unknown right now. She said the city is exploring options and compiling a list of vendors that can operate the system.
Cooper stresses the court is not going completely paperless.
“We'll always have the counter and cashier's window and that customer service,” she said. “They can always respond by (traditional) mail.”
She said if someone appears in the Cheney court for a hearing, the court would generate the associated paperwork that goes with a court hearing. If the involved party isn't in the courtroom, then she said the court would not print and create a paper file.
Getting the Internet hearing is simple: Go to the city website. She said the hearings are Internet-based and have a menu in which people download a file, fill in the blanks and respond by e-mail and can even make a payment online. Cooper said the only expense was configuring the city webpage to talk to the bank's system. She emphasizes the small amount of cost was just the hours involved.
New software is known to have problems, especially after it has been installed. Cooper said she expects a few rough patches at first. After the system is functional, also there are enough safeguards that any delays would be minimal and brief.
She added that in the event of a time sensitive situation, the system not would count against anyone on any day in which system malfunctions were recorded.
“We're going ‘err' in their favor,” Cooper said, adding that a stay would be granted in lieu of scheduling.
The Internet-based system is becoming more common throughout the state and funding has been approved by the state to promote it. Cooper said Spokane District Court and Lincoln County have both started using e-ticketing. Cooper said it saves officer's time, staff time and will definitely save on paper and printing.
“There's going to be a paper reduction and forms reduction,” she said. The prime focus is on paper reduction.
“(Implementing the new system) will take more effort initially, but I think the result will be it will take less staff time once we get the system,” Cooper said.
David Teller can be reached at [email protected]
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